Crossmatch

2022 Longlist

When a poor young boy succumbs to his injuries in the ICU, no one considers it anything but the result of a tragic accident. No one, that is, but Lotus, an introverted daydreamer who is drifting into a career in medicine more by parental choice than her own.

As a chance witness to his final moments, she is unwittingly drawn into his case and soon finds herself both angry and upset trying to understand what really happened to him.

Why, for instance, did the boy dash recklessly across the road into the path of a passing vehicle? Why did he have a contact with the same name as hers on his phone? What was his link to the luxurious Lotus Hospital?

Her sense of justice aroused, she follows a trail that takes her through the hospitals, slums and mansions of Colombo, juggling all this within her gritty life as a medical student.

About the Author/Translator

“Carmel Miranda was born and grew up in Colombo, Sri Lanka. An avid reader, she took up writing late in life, as a way of escaping from the stresses of her day job, which is anaesthetising patients for surgery. Crossmatch is her first novel and it was awarded the Gratiaen Prize for 2020.” Crossmatch has also won the Sri Lanka State National Literary Award for the Best Novel in English 2021.

Librarian’s Comments

Set against the backdrop of Colombo’s medical establishment, the novel follows the path of a medical student who attempts to untangle the mystery of the death of a poor boy in a hospital ICU, which is assumed to be the result of a tragic accident. Her sense of justice aroused, she follows a trail that takes her through the hospitals, slums and mansions of Colombo, and uncovers some dark secrets behind the apparently respectable façade of the medical establishment as well as some surprising truths about herself, juggling all this within her gritty life as a medical student. Colombo Public Library, Sri Lanka